1. Why is access to certain publications restricted and can only be viewed on site at the Library?
2. Can I get scans from SDL publications and how?
3. Can documents be proposed for digitization?
4. I want to use SDL publications in my presentation/book/exhibition. How do I describe their origin?
5. Is it possible to propose your own work to be published in SDL?
6. I own an interesting/rare/antique document. Would you be interested in acquiring it?
7. Is it possible to download the publication and its source files of higher quality?
8. Where can one obtain substantive information about the resources and contents of the SDL or order a search?
9. I found my personal data in the SDL publications. I would like them to be deleted (right to delete data, “right to be forgotten” - GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation).
10. Do I need to have a user account and what is it for?
11. Who decides on the selection of documents for publication in the SDL and what are the criteria for their selection?
12. What does a simple search consist of?
13. What does advanced search consist of?
14. What does the search in indexes consist of?

 

Question : Why is access to certain publications restricted and can only be viewed on site at the Library?
Answer 1: The publications so secured are copyrighted publications. According to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, the Library can make them available only on its own premises, on the local network. They are available in the Library's reading rooms. Note: In the case of collections under copyright, the library does not perform reprographic or digitization services for readers, nor does it send files with copies of these collections.
We can publish (i.e., reproduce and distribute) documents without restriction in the SDL:
(a) from the so-called public domain, i.e., those that are not covered by copyright or for which the right has expired. These are, for example, official documents and publications, magazines after 70 (+1) years from the date of publication, works for which 70 (+1) years have passed from the date of death of the author or last contributor (e.g., illustrator, translator, photographer, etc.).
b) licensed under free Creative Commons type licenses or under a license granted by the rights holder for reproduction and distribution.
c) which have been published by institutions that contribute to the SDL and hold the rights to them.
SDL publications specify the legal status of the documents in the “Rights” description field. In the absence of a description, publications may be used within the framework of permitted personal use, or alternatively, contact the institution providing the document, indicated in the document description field “Oryginal in”.

 

Question : Can I get scans from SDL publications and how?
Answer 2: Note: due to copyright restrictions, some of the SDL publications are deprived of access to the content and are available only on the local network of the Silesian Library. The Library does not perform digitization services for readers and does not send files with copies of these collections or their fragments. For more - see answer 1.
For other publications:
- some publications allow you to download source scans (TIFF) on your own - see answer 7.
- For other publications, you can request free scans at digitalizacja@bs.katowice.pl - for publications of the Silesian Library.

For documents of other institutions (name in the description field “Oryginal in”), you should contact them directly, setting the conditions of use.
The order of scans should include the title, link to the publication and specify the number of the scan or page of the original (possibly specifying its fragment).

 

Question: Can documents be proposed for digitization?
Answer 3: Yes, as long as they belong to the public domain. Based on the catalog of the Silesian Library, you should send the data of the document (author, title, reference, possibly a link to the catalog record) to digitalizacja@bs.katowice.pl. After copyright verification, the document will be scanned and published. Due to the avoidance of duplicate digitization in the system of Polish digital libraries, it is necessary to check with the help of the Digital Libraries Federation service whether the proposed document is not already digitized and presented on the Internet.

 

Question: I want to use SDL publications in my presentation/book/exhibition. How do I describe their origin?
Answer 4: Unless the reference is a regular footnote (with a link to the description of the publication in the SDL), the publication or their collection used should be described:
>>From the collection of [name of institution from the “Oryginal in” field of the document description], from the resources of the SDL<<.

 

Question: Is it possible to propose your own work to be published in SDL?
Answer 5: Yes, as long as the copyright holder of the work licenses it. The condition for publication in the SDL is to write a license agreement, allowing the Library to digitize and/or publish the document. (Note: a license can only be granted by the entity that holds the economic copyright to the work, owning a copy of the document is not the same as owning the rights to the work).
After signing the license agreement, submit the work for publication in the preferred PDF format. In the case of a printed document, the Library will digitize it from its own collection, and if it does not have a copy, it should be delivered to the SL's DMI Digitarium. To publish your own document, please contact: digitalizacja@bs.katowice.pl.

 

Question: I own an interesting/rare/antique document. Would you be interested in acquiring it?
Answer 6: No, the digital library does not purchase documents. Possible proposals for acquisition should be submitted to the institutions that contribute to the SDL.

Question: Is it possible to download the publication and its source files of higher quality?
Answer 7: Yes. Under the publication window there is a “Download” menu, from where you can freely download the publication files in the available format. Source files in TIFF format can be downloaded individually, after the selected file-scan.
Currently, not all publications have attached source files, if they are missing, you can request them free of charge at digitalizacja@bs.katowice.pl - for publications of the Silesian Library. For documents of other institutions (name in the description field “Oryginal in”), you need to apply directly to them.
Publications in the SDL are gradually being supplemented with the possibility of downloading the source files themselves as the old archive is transferred to the modernized SDL system. Source scans are made, depending on the type of document, with a resolution of 300 (standard), 400 (some journals) or 600 dpi (some old and antique documents). In the case of the need for source files with a higher resolution than available and the need to rescan the originals, such a service in the case of the Silesian Library's resources is chargeable.

 

Question: Where can one obtain substantive information about the resources and contents of the SDL or order a search?
Answer 8: Due to the multiplicity of entities that make up the resources of the SDL and the regional and local peculiarities of the collection, inquiries should be addressed to the institutions providing the publications in question.  They are indicated in the publication descriptions, in the fields “Original in” or “Published by”. In the case of Silesian Library resources, you can request such information here.

 

Question: I found my personal data in the SDL publications. I would like them to be deleted (right to delete data, “right to be forgotten” - GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation).
Answer 9: Institutions contributing to the SDL are not the proper addressees of such a request. These institutions are not controllers of personal data in digitized documents. 

 

Question: Do I need to have a user account and what is it for?
Answer 10: An user account is not necessary to use SDL publications. Currently, it provides additional functionality: an e-mail newsletter with a list of newly added publications and a reading shelf that allows you to keep an index of publications of interest. In order to create an account, it is necessary to have an e-mail box, to which, an account activation link will be sent. Activation of the account takes place only after the reader clicks on the received link.

 

Question: Who decides on the selection of documents for publication in the SDL and what are the criteria for their selection?
Answer 11: The SDL digital resource is a collection of collections created independently by cooperating institutions within the framework of their own digitization programs. Each of them shapes it autonomously and without the supervision of other institutions. Among the most important formal criteria for selecting documents for digitization and publication in the SDL are:
- popularity among users (frequent sharing),
- the need to preserve and protect documents (historic collections, in poor state of preservation)
- historical/scientific/disciplinary value,
- rarity (uniqueness, singularity),
- connection with the region (documents pertaining to the region, produced in the region or universal, but kept only in the region).
In the case of the collections of the Silesian Library, digitization is of a mass nature, i.e. it is carried out in a wide range, without setting specific, narrow selection criteria.

 

Question: What does a simple search consist of?
Answer 12: Simple search consists of searching for words occurring in the search expression in the text of the publication, in its description (with the possibility of narrowing the scope of the search to one element of the description, such as the creator) or both in the description of the publication and in its content - setting the scope of the search to the option “search everywhere” (default value).

Question: What does advanced search consist of?
Answer 13: Advanced search consists of searching for words occurring in a search expression in the text of the publication and (or) in its description (with the possibility of narrowing the search scope to one element of the description), taking into account logical operators. General search can be carried out at the level of the entire digital library - publications in all collections are then searched, or at the level of a selected collection - only publications collected in this collection are then searched. The latter way reduces the search time and significantly reduces the number of results obtained.

 

Question: What does the search in indexes consist of?
 Answer 14: Searching in indexes, as opposed to general search (simple and advanced), is limited to searching only in the descriptions of publications. Indexes are available: titles, creators, contributors, publishers, subject and keywords.